Beginning of Western Philosophy

Richard Rojcewicz is Scholar-in-Residence in the Philosophy Department at Duquesne University. He has translated (with Daniela Vallega-Neu) Heidegger's Contributions to Philosophy: Of the Event (IUP, 2012) and The Event (IUP, 2012).

"A review cannot do justice to the entire richness of this lecture course . . . . The present course is thus in every sense a transition: harking back to the temporal analyses of Being from the period of 'Being and Time' and anticipating the increasing preoccupation with the Presocratics and with Greek tragedy that would mark Heidegger's work from the mid-1930s onward.10/4/16"—Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews"Publication of this volume will motivate further scholarship on Heidegger's relation to the Pre-Socratics and on the intertwined topics of ontological difference, truth, metaphysics, and attunement. It will serve novice and seasoned Heidegger scholars alike."—Jerome Veith, Seattle University

• ContentsTranslator's IntroductionThe beginning of Western philosophyInterpretation of Anaximander and ParmenidesPart OneThe dictum of Anaximander of Miletus, 6th-5th CenturyIntroduction1. The mission and the dictumChapter IThe first phase of the interpretationA. The first section of the statement2. The theme of the dictum: beings as a wholeB. The second section of the statement3. Beings in the relation of compliance and noncomplianceC. The third section of the statement4. Being and timeChapter IIThe second phase of the interpretation5. The unitary content of the pronouncement on the basis of its central coreChapter IIIThe other dictum6. The sovereign source of beings as the empowering power of appearancePart TwoInterposed considerations7. Four objections to the interpretation8. The negative relation to the beginning9. Meditation on the "current situation"10. The grounding utterance of Being11. The actual asking of the question of Being12. Review of the linguistic usage13. The basic question of existence14. Commentary on our concept of existence15. The full rendering of the understanding of Being16. The liberation toward freedom17. Transition to Parmenides: the first explicit and coherent unfolding of the question of BeingPart ThreeThe "didactic poem" of Parmenides of Elea6th-5th Century18. Introduction19. Interpretation of fragment 1. Preparation for the question of Being20. Interpretation of fragments 4 and 521. Interpretation of fragments 6 and 722. Interpretation of fragment 823. The fragments 9, 12, 13, 10, 11, 14, 16, 19 (in the order of their interpretation)Conclusion24. The inceptual question of Being; the law of philosophyAppendixDrafts and plans for the lecture courseEditor's afterwordGerman-English GlossaryEnglish-German Glossary